RSJs

[thommo]

I hope someone can advise, I want to widen a window to about 2.7 metres and put in folding doors. But there is already an RSJ in the ceiling ending at rightangles to the middle of the proposed opening. Would a lintel on the inner leaf support this or would it need a new rsj joining at rightangles to the existing one?
There would be a foot or two of wall above the new opening below the existing RSJ. I would hope to avoid taking out the existing rsj if possible as its holding up an internal wall above. Maybe a steel pillar to the rsj dividing the new doorway would make the job easier

 

[noseall]

You definitely need to get this looked at by a structural engineer, particularly as any steel will be carrying the additional load from a bisecting wall.

It is doable because we did a similar job in the summer whereby the steels we put in also carried a steel which in turn carried an internal floor.

However the steels arrangement, particularly the way they were bolted together, the padstones beneath and the additional concrete beneath the remaining pillar of masonry were fairly 'beefy'!